Olhava - Ladoga (2020)^{Release ID: 18672}

Olhava are a blackgaze band from Russia and already this album is starting very similar to the Skyforest album from about a month ago. This one is a little bit different however, whereas Skyforest were incorporating symphonic elements into their music, Olhava are giving us ambiance and drone like tendencies throughout Ladoga, their newest album.

And while I do appreciate a good Panopticon clone with some very pretty sounding black metal, it really fails to deliver in many of the same ways that drone metal has failed to keep me engaged in the past. Here specifically through enormous tracks that don't elaborate beyond a single idea. Whereas Panopticon always develops their songs and modulates them through their run time; never allowing them to become stagnant, before bringing all of these ideas together near the conclusion for a chaotic conclusion. Ladoga has very little of that.

While their are some very sweet ideas on display on "Trembling Night", they overstay their welcome and become tiresome after a while. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" does a better job at this with a swell that takes place over an almost painful amount of time, so that the release hits with more gravitas.

The mixing on this album is pretty decent. Like I mentioned off the top, this is black metal very much influenced by the likes of Panopticon; a very muddy mix where no instrument part gets pushed to the front. The vocals are pushed the the back of the mix, the percussion and rhythm guitars are mixed together, while the slower sections do bring in some lead guitar and very solid bass work. When the mix gets a little louder however, the bass does seem to lose some of its grandeur behind the rhythm guitar. Melodic phrasing also seems to take a backseat as well. Track like "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" and "Ladoga" have much better second halves after introducing melodic ideas in their softer bridge though.

The ambient sections that are interspersed between the heavier black metal material is present on the "Ageless River" interludes.  These tracks call upon heavy synths, guitar feedback residue from the previous tracks and even some field recording, such as on "Ageless River III". These moments are a welcome change of pace following the relentless nature of some of the remaining tracks on this album. But on their own, I don't think anybody will un-ironically return to these moments as album highlights.

This is absolutely an album that can be defined as "dreamlike". This is black metal that you can just listen to and zone out with for over an hour. As such, I can understand why some people might not appreciate this album as much as those (like myself) who are more welcoming of the atmospheric side of black metal, and the stylistic changes that lead it towards blackgaze. Simply put, if you are not a fan of this genre, this album will not change your mind. Otherwise, turn the lights down, roll up a spliff or get yourself an alcoholic beverage, and just let the music take you away.

*EDIT* had to fix a bad autocorrect in the first paragraph which replaced "ambiance" with "abstinence". Yeah this album shows restraint, but not like that!